Thursday, September 15, 2016

The pronoun struggle for people talking to sister missionaries is amusing. I've been conditioned to respond to any of the above.

This'll be a short email, but a lot has happened! The most exciting is Eva's baptism! She looked SO cute and so happy. Me and sister Dodd sang a medley of "I Need Thee Every Hour", "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and "Come, Thou Fount" while I played guitar. I warned her that my eyes might get "sweaty" while we sang (we'd always joke about "sweaty eyes") and they totally did. She was just so happy. "Jesus told me I need to follow Him so that's what I'm doing today." -direct quote.

We've also been preparing for TODAY, also known as the day that fall semester starts at BYUI. I've been so excited to reconnect with some of our investigators from the previous semester that I was here and I have high hopes.

Public service announcement: next monday will not be p-day, meaning I will not be able to send or read any emails. Elder Brent H. Nielson of the seventy will be coming for a couple days to do some zone conferences, interviews, inspections, and whatever else. I'm very excited!!! He's currently the executive director of the entire missionary department. He'll be here next monday and tuesday... so our pday will be Wednesday, but some of the missionaries have planned a trip up to Yellowstone, so I'm not sure when or if I will be able to email that day.

Thank you all for your prayers. Sorry this is a short email. I love this work and I love the people of Rexburg!

Faithfully,

Sister McIntosh

1. We had a masquerade to celebrate my half birthday and her 2 month mark and my 8 month mark

2. I got to go on exchanges with Hna Alvarez and speak spanish all day!!!!! (PS this past week marked the half-anniversary of the Alamo...(the only reason I know this is because the battle at the Alamo took place on my birthday) which took place in San Antonio, TX. In order to commemorate, how cool is it that I spent the day speaking spanish in St. Anthony (aka San Antonio) Idaho?)

Well. I knew the day was coming. I just didn't know that it would come so soon. I am saddened to announce to you all that it has officially started being "chilly" in Idaho. Most days are fine, but it's only a matter of time before my nose hairs are frozen, my bum is bruised from falling ALWAYS, and my hair starts greying from the stress of driving on iced roads.

But good things are in the future of Rexburg! We're teaching a cute little girl, Eva (9) who is getting baptized this weekend. She's the funniest little girl. And so smart. Oh my heck.

And the fall semester starts in a WEEK! I am anxious for that day. For many, many reasons, but one of the most significant is that we will have MUCH more people to teach! I love working with the YSA and everyone else on campus. Sister Dodd and I have some good ideas to really get the work rolling on campus - stay tuned.

We have a new YSA investigator named Willy - he's really cool and very receptive to everything we teach. We taught him the Plan of Happiness and at the end, since we had gone over a lot with him, I asked what in the lesson particularly stood out to him or meant a lot to him. "Well... no matter what we do, we can be forgiven and it will be okay. If we do what's right, anyways. I didn't know that there was that much hope."

That was a really needed answer for me particular.

I know a decent amount of things. I'm aware of things, at least (except between 10:30pm and 6:30am). But do I really UNDERSTAND what these things mean? Do any of us? It was a good reminder and it made me think of the great missionary Amulek who said:

I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear;

therefore Iknew concerning these things, yet I would not know

Profound much?

In our prayers, in our studies, in our everyday activities, let's try to remember and to KNOW the things we know about. Let's pray for increased perspective and understanding of the things we take for granted.

Love you all!!!!!!

Sister McIntosh

1. Me and Kolo both pretending like we weren't crying. This was shortly before she left

2. Us with Eva! And her cousin! (turquoise hair)

3. Eating at the legendary Big Judd's restaurant outside of Rexburg while on exchanges with some of the other sisters in Rexburg :)

Saturday, September 10, 2016

On Wednesday, I got me a new companion! Her name is Sister Tiane Fa'afofoga Saumanuia Dodd. Aka Sister Dodd. She is most recently from Montana, a couple hours outside of Billings (in the northern Cheyenne Reservation). She is 1/16 native american, and 1/2 Samoan! Her mom is from the islands. Remember the first missionary I trained, Sister Reupena?? She is from Samoa, and actually served in Samoa for a couple months on a visa wait before I got her here in Idaho. Sister Dodd, ALSO is a visa waiter. She was not called to Idaho, but TO SAMOA. So, I'm not sure how long I'll get to keep her, but I hope it's awhile because she is STELLAR. Her Samoan is already super great because her grandma and mom speak samoan with her a lot. I love all of these poly companions I have! SO FUN. Sister Dodd likes to play the guitar, uke, and piano by ear (she asked me to teach her how to read notes on pdays!) and loves to braid hair. We get along great and she's such a hard worker. I LOVE THE GREENIE FIRE.

On a sadder note, Sister Kolo went home today. She finished up her 18 months and about an hour ago drove off to be in the mission home. Tomorrow she flies from Pocatello to Salt Lake to LAX (13hr layover) to Tahiti to New Zealand to Tonga. All. By. Herself. I can't even imagine. When we were saying goodbye, we were both sobbing. It was the first time she'd seen me cry and I don't think she realized how much I was going to miss her! I've known her my whole mission!! But she will be happy in Tonga, and I'm trying to convince her to come back to BYUI haha.

In one of the wards we went to this past Sunday there was a musical number of 3 brothers (2 cellos, 1 violin) and their mom (piano) playing "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." While the boys were getting set up and tuned up, the mom introduced them and read the lyrics of this hymn, which I love. She started the first verse.......

.....And I was contently humming the melody in my head along with these familiar words. Then she read the second verse.......

Here I raise my Ebenezer Hither by thy help I comeAnd I hope by thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at homeJesus sought me when a stranger Wondering from the fold of GodHe, to rescue me from danger Interposed His precious blood.

.....and I happily listened to these incredible words. Such a wonderful hymn, and I was excited to hear their instrumental arrangement. She read the third verse........

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to theeProne to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I loveHere's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above

...and I absolutely lost it.

As my chin trembled and as I ungracefully pretended to cough to cover my blowing my nose, I thought.... What a reminder this was to me of the power a relationship with Christ can bring into our heart and into our life. I am honestly at a loss for words, in a way. Her reading that verse, and even me pondering it now, makes me realize how humble we all ought to be. Do not all of us have a wandering heart? Are we not all prone to leave? There may be people closer to perfection than that, but I don't even hang out with those kinds of people, if they exist in the first place. I need Christ's goodness to fetter my heart to His. I can't do it alone. None of us can.

He just needs our heart.

Love you all,

Sister McIntosh

Here's us all right before we said goodbye to Sister Kolo and started sobbing. It's me, Sister Kolo, Sister Crandall (my STL comp), Sister Dodd (my REAL comp), Sister Cottrell (from KS, also fresh from the MTC), Sister Naitoko, and Zuster Baker (also here on a visa wait, she was called to the Trinidad Port of Spain mission, Dutch Speaking).

This weekend, we found out what's going to be happening with this next transfer that will start on Wednesday. I'm staying in the same area. Kind of. Here's what's going down:

**Currently my area is all of BYU-I and the Rexburg Center Stake. It will NOW be all of BYU-I and the Rexburg East Stake. They're working on opening up some new areas, so there's a LOT of rearranging and whitewashing going on throughout the whole mission. ALSO, fun fact: The Rexburg East stake is statistically the most active stake in the entire world. Literally. In terms of the # of baptized members living in the boundary and in terms of church attendance of those baptized members. The most active stake.

**Sister Kolo is going home back to Tonga, but her plane doesn't leave until next week, so UNTIL then, she'll be in a trio with me and my new companion.

**I'M GOING TO BE A TRAINER AGAIN!!! My new companion will be a wonderful sister fresh from the MTC. There's 4 sisters total coming in this transfer, two of which are VISA waiters waiting to go serve outside of America. I'm SO EXCITED!!!

**I'm going to be a Sister Training Leader still, but I won't have an STL companion... So it will just be me for the sisters that Sister Kolo and I together were working with up until this transfer.

So that's that! It will be totally crazy and busy all the time, but that's how I like it.

Anthony got baptized this weekend!! I told you about Anthony last email, I believe. We call him cat daddy. His baptism was wonderful. I wish you all could have been there to see how happy and smiley he was the whole time. He just glowed. His friends gave talks, me and the other sisters sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" while I played guitar which was SO fun. His confirmation the next Sunday was just as wonderful. Let me tell you, hearing about this guy's whole past story, and then seeing him come into church wearing slacks and a CTR tie tack.... The gospel changes everything.

This has been a wonderful week, and things will only get better, methinks.

Keep on keepin' on, everyone. "Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."

Love always,

Sister McIntosh

I had to run and play prelude music right before the took this epic picture.

#peanutbutterandjealous

But I was here for this one <3

ALSO I taught these cuties back when I worked in Sugar City. They live in Teton and they got baptized this weekend and I got to go see them and have a lunch with their family afterwards <3

Parker (11) and Reo (9) Cash.

Last monday we had dinner with this awesome family from Tonga who lives in the East stake, the one I'm starting to cover this week!!!

One of our BFFs who comes teaching with us took us to get Cold Stone because she's the best.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Well, this week I'll be finding out about what's happening at the next transfer. My current companion, Sister Kolo, will be flying home in a couple weeks, so there will definitely be changes to talk about. Will they keep me here? Send me somewhere else? Switch me to a spanish area? Who knows!!? (see English lds hymnbook #270)

Remember in the Bible when the multitude followed Christ, and he taught them, then they were going to feed them? Then, all the disciples had was 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread? We studied this in church yesterday. When they gave Christ the food they DID have, He was able to work miracles. He was able to make it happen.

Sometimes, even though we love Christ, and follow him, we only have 2 fish and 5 loaves. Some days we may only have a fish skeleton and one moldy loaf of bread. First of all, how gross. Second of all, sometimes, in all honesty that's ALL we are able to do. When we're given difficult tasks, all he asks is that we give Him what we CAN. He'll make it happen. Whether it's feeding a multitude, being a wife/husband, being a mom/dad, going to school, being in a relationship, being a missionary, being broken, having scars, making mistakes, and having weaknesses - give what you have, and regardless of how much that may be and regardless of what your situation is, the Lord will work wonders with your willingness.

I love you all,

Sister McIntosh

PS - this week we went on exchanges with some of the sisters in our zone - always SO fun!

I have gained two new nicknames: "Sister Swift" (apparently homely sister missionaries still have the ability to look like Taylor Swift) and "Lohuloa" (means "tall" or "long" in Tongan).

I have stories:

The story of Mr. G:

Mr. G is an older man who lives in a trailer park on the outskirts of Rexburg. A few years ago, he was a 100% happy and active member of the church. When 2 of his kids started going less active, he got really depressed. He got even more depressed and lonely when his son went on a mission to California. This son of his actually called us and told us to go visit his dad and get him to stop smoking and come back to church. Both of those things have happened. Mr. G is also going to be a temple-recommend holder when his son comes home next month!!!

Mr. G is also one of my favorite people? Why? He has a strong testimony and isn't afraid to share it. He's resilient. He also teases me about things all the time. My height, my "Texas ambiance", you name it. Mr. G also has a state-of-the-art music producing/recording studio in his doublewide. Not kidding. It's equipped with about a dozen guitars, keyboards, and a bunch of other instrumentage. He's shows us some stuff he's written (missionary handbook approved, don't worry everyone.) But then he also offered to let me take one of his guitars to play on pday to keep back at our apartment until I get transferred. CAN YOU SAY MIRACLE!?!?

The story of Anthony:

Anthony is a middle-aged man who lives in a different trailer park on the outskirts of Rexburg. A few years ago, he got out of jail and came out to Rexburg for "a more peaceful life". Obviously we taught him the gospel and he accepted all of it full-heartedly. He loves coming to church and praying. He's getting baptized at the end of this month!!! He calls himself the "cat daddy" because he loves cats and all of the cats around the trailer park come and chill with him at his place (#handsanitizer). He's the funniest person I've met since being on my mission. Not kidding. One time, we took him to the Family History Center. Anthony has never met his real parents since they died when he was super young, but going there he was able to find a bunch of newspaper articles about his parents and see pictures of them that he's never seen before. He was getting super emotional and it was really cool! It helps people realize the eternal aspect of the gospel in a more tangible way, I think. When people talked about family history in church or something pre-mission, I always just avoided eye contact and felt guilty for never desiring to get involved with it... But who knew that it'd inspire people to get baptized??

If any of you have any room for spiritual growth (aka you) PLEASE read Alma 34 and let me know what you get out of it:) I'd love to hear from you.

What. A. Week. I don't think I've told you all about our investigator named Adam. He moved here from Oregon a few months ago after getting his degree in nuclear engineering. Being in a dominantly-LDS town, he asked his friend to contact us to come teach him so that he can give the religion an "honest try" - oh, and he's atheist. So, we met with him and taught the restoration. He's very intelligent and asked some very thought-provoking questions. We did our best to talk it out with him and address his concerns and we gave him a Book of Mormon to start reading. By our next appointment, which was 4 days later, he'd already gotten through a third of it. He was in Mosiah. Basically he progressed MEGA fast after that. Talking with him about the Plan of Salvation and about the Gospel of Jesus Christ was interesting. He told us that praying, reading the Book of Mormon, and especially repenting every day has made him more grateful that there actually IS a God. It was all wonderful! Then, one weekend, he went down to Utah to visit some friends there. We were trying to get ahold of him so we could set up an appointment when he got back, but he RARELY responded. THEN, on Sunday night we get a text from him that said "Hey, Sisters. Sorry I've been bad about getting back with you, I've been meeting with the missionaries here in Utah every night to finish up the lessons and I got baptized on Saturday! My confirmation was this morning." WHOA. Whoa. He got baptized!! I wish I could have been there, but am still VERY happy that he was so willing to move forward and develop that belief in God and faith in Christ.

Remember that one time that everything worked out perfectly the way you planned it to?

Me neither.

Plans rarely go as envisioned. And missionaries spend a LOT of time planning. A lot. Frequently, things get crazy, and every appointment cancels on you in a day, or you end up not eating for an uncomfortable period of time. Other times, we'll double-book ourselves with appointments, or we'll have 2 lunch and 2 dinner appointments. How does that happen? I'm not entirely sure, but I am sure about one thing: D&C 38:30 - "..if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." This is a phrase that my dear mother would say often - and it stuck, mom!! God will provide people, situations, experiences, and miracles in your life that will help you, even though our plan may not work out how we hoped it would. When we put our faith in God's plan for us, our plan will begin to align with His.

Making decisions about our standards now, planning what we want for eternity now, no matter how far into our life we are, is critical in coming closer to Christ.

It shows God that we are mindful of what we need to do to improve. It shows that we're willing to give our will to Him. It's a tricky thing to learn to do, sometimes, but (another mom-ism:) when we fail to plan, we plan to fail.

WHOOO! It's been a hot week, folks. Hot and dry. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty used to hot weather. But hot, dry, weather at a high altitude with a bunch of visits in students' apartments with no AC? That's a sweaty experience.

The semester ended this week, so our teaching pool is much smaller than it was before. It was hard teaching my sweet investigators, seeing them progress and be happy, seeing them get baptized, and now sending them to China. Literally. But, since this is my companion's last transfer in her mission, it's very likely that they'll keep me here longer than planned, aka long enough to be here when Fall semester starts and all of our converts come back!! It'll be a good day. Also apparently a lot of my Houston friends are coming back from their missions and will be coming to BYUI for the fall semester, as well. Weird.

This work is a hard work. Missionary life isn't for the faint of heart. Rather, missionary life isn't for the faint of heart who aren't willing to be strengthened with the help of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know sometimes my emails aren't super long or informative or spiritual, and sometimes I send goofy pictures. But I want you all to know that I wouldn't be willing to do this work of spreading the gospel if it wasn't true. I wouldn't do it if the gospel wasn't able to bless everyone's life. But it is true. And it does bless lives. It does bring peace. It does so as we turn to Christ, as we forsake our pride and our weaknesses and let Christ make us who God knows that we can be.

I love you all dearly.

Sister McIntosh

1. All the sisters in our zone got together to teach the hula to a group of YW in sugar city, my old area! So fun to see everyone there and so fun to pretend to be polynesian like my other sisters... haha

2. A member gave us water and peaches. It made me SO happy.

3. Our district. Not everyone was ready for the picture.

This was everyone before the mission got split. The last group pictures of the "big" IPM. It was a good time. See if you can find me.

Except I'm not getting transferred. I'm going to be staying at BYU-I with Sister Kolo, who will be going home after this transfer- crazy.

P-day this week is on Tuesday, because me and some sisters went to the temple today!!! We only get to go twice a year as missionaries, so it was really special to be back.

EMILY GOT BAPTIZED and it was amazing. Seriously. The next sunday she had her confirmation. The Bishop asked her to bear her testimony afterwards which was really powerful. She talked about how after her mom and her brother died within 2 years of each other and she moved she got into some really bad situations and her life was miserable. After her friend basically dragged her to come to BYU-I, she agreed to meet with the missionaries, but was pretty closed off to them and to the spirit because she "wasn't ready for anything that good in her life." I found that to be fascinating. She talked more about how feeling the spirit and feeling love from the people here has been an incredible influence for good. Her testimony brought me to tears, y'all: "I never thought I would be able to say this, but.. I know with all of my heart that this church is true." Simple. Profound. True. It was a great moment.

I was reading an article in the church news about a seminar that President Utchdorf gave to all the new mission presidents last month and he talked about how when eaglets are learning to fly, the mama eagle kinda lovingly pushes the baby out of the nest (and their nests rest on the edge of cliffs... for reals.) And then that's how the baby learns to catch the wind under its wings. "The thrill of soaring begins with the fear of falling."

That stood out to me, and came to my mind immediately when Emily bore her testimony.

Is life hard? Yes. Is life scary? Yes. Is life unfair? Frequently.

Does it have to be? In some ways, maybe.

Can it be better if we take a leap of faith and turn to Christ with all of our heart? Without a doubt.

I love you all,

Sister McIntosh

1. The gang that went to the temple this morning. Sis Kolo (my incredible poly comp), Sis Fabrici (the hardcore 40 yr old convert from Jersey who's a missionary here), Sis Crandall (my previous STL and missionary who laughs at my jokes more consistently than most people I know.)

2. Us having dinner with Sister Denny, the woman we live with.

3. Half of my zone.

1. Me and two of my polys (I'm the only white sister in the zone.)

2. There's a place called Big Judd's that's apparently famous for their big burgers. A family took us there and we split it between the four of us.

3. The "BBQ" we had with our district on fourth of july. I can't remember if I sent this one already or not...

The baptism with Alex was wonderful. We've truly been seeing SO many miracles this week and staying SO busy. I wish I had time to share all of them with you.

I have been thinking a lot about freedom lately. In D&C 121 it says that "when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn." It goes on to say that we are "left unto [our self]." In the Book of Mormon (Helaman 6), at one point, the Nephites "had become exceedingly wicked; yea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and didtrample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways."

Although the words they use about turning to our "own" ways and being left to our "self" sounds like freedom and independence, it isn't freedom for our souls. When we are complacent and just do whatever we want, whenever we want, Satan then has power to take hold of our hearts and lead us to be unhappy.

The ONLY thing that we have that God doesn't is our individual will. Our agency. Through the world's eyes it's hard to see why giving that up and doing what GOD wants for us is liberating. King Benjamin explained it pretty well, in my opinion (Mosiah 5:6-8):

7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. 8 And under this head ye are madefree, and there isno other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other namegiven whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye shouldtake upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.9 And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ.

I know that freedom comes through obedience. Letting Christ take the lead in our life is more liberating that we realize. I know He wants what's best for us.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND I LOVE AMERICA.

Sister McIntosh

The New Mission:

Please ignore the awkward headshot that was taken on my first day in Idaho as a missionary.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

That's something that the Tongans say. It's the equivalent of "hold your horses" but I think it's way funnier. Let's all unite and work together to make it a phrase in the states. "Hold your watermelon, America." #hyw

This week has been SO busy. On tuesday, we got a lot of new missionaries who, like us, were transferred to be the FIRST missionaries in the Idaho Idaho Falls mission. How exciting! Our new mission president, President Trent Nelson gets here on July 1st!

We did a lot of service this week - pulling weeds mostly. Pulling weeds only, actually. But I don't mind, at all. I get to talk to people, be in the sun, work hard, and wear basketball shorts. Life is good.

Miracle #1 - We got a text from one of our investigators named Alex. She's from Hong Kong and is a student here at BYUI. She has been taught for awhile by missionaries but has never set a date for baptism because her parents and grandparents back in Hong Kong were always kind of hesitant. And Asians are very, very, very good at keeping the fifth of the ten commandments. #Honor It's inspiring in some ways, but we want Alex to get baptized! God wants Alex to get baptized. Alex wants Alex to get baptized. SO, we challenged her to pray that her family would have a softened heart. About a week later, she texted us saying that she skyped her family that night and they ALL gave her their blessing to go forward with baptism if it's what she wants. WE WERE SO EXCITED. And so is she. She's getting baptized this Friday, July 1st! She'll be the first convert baptism of the new IIFM mission!! She's making invitations and writing everyone's name in Chinese and drawing cute little anime angles on them. She is precious. Did I mention that prayer works, people?

Miracle #2 - Emily is also a student here. Super rough life and rough background. Lutheran upbringing. Her friends brought her to school here. She's been meeting with missionaries for a long time as well. They've set dates for her to get baptized, but they always fall through or cancel for whatever reason. We had a lesson with her this past week, and her roommates and the Relief Society president were all there. Our goal was to set a baptismal date with her. REALLY set a date. I was kind of nervous that she'd back off or not open up if there were so many people there. But we all had an INCREDIBLE discussion about the Holy Ghost. Pretty much everyone was getting emotional. We talked about the ways that the spirit can talk to us. Emily talked about how she's been praying a lot about baptism, but she's been waiting for a big answer from the spirit, a big production, fireworks, a vision, a sign, something like that. "Maybe feeling the spirit while I'm at church or reading the scriptures, maybe being happier and feeling closer to God than I did before learning about the LDS faith, maybe that's my answer. Maybe I've had it all along. I need to get baptized." It was amazing. We set a date for her, as well. :)

Miracles happen. Prayers are heard. The spirit is real.

I've come to know these things as I've seen MANY people have a change of heart. I've seen them have a change of countenance and come closer to Christ. It can happen to anyone. Keep on keepin' on, everyone.